Detroit? Not the best example of a "safe" American city. The Motor City is a city of poverty & poverty pretty much leads to high crime.

COB: Having to buy a whole album I don't want for one fucking song. There is a new Thom Yorke song that sounds smashing. BUT. It's only available on the new Twilight soundtrack. I haven't found a place to thieve it yet, so I am annoyed as fuck.

zoya

Nov 8 2009, 07:32 PM

QUOTE(koffeewitch @ Nov 7 2009, 05:45 AM)

AbleD: Agreed on drinking and driving...it's just that my friends's one DUI was nearly 20 years old. Does anyone know how those laws currently work? It used to be DUIs were separate from DWI...any amount of alcohol could possibly yield an "under the influence claim" while "driving while intoxicated" had to be the .10 (now it's .08, right)??Anyway, I HATE drunk drivers.

Koffeewitch - The only way a person can ensure they are allowed into Canada with no hassle, is, after at least 5 years from the end of completing their sentence, they apply for rehabilitation. It's basically just paperwork that has to be filed, along with letters vouching for one's character, background check from the FBI, etc. It doesn't matter if the DUI was nearly 20 years old, if someone wants to ensure they can come in, they must be legally rehabilitated. That said, if the DUI was over 5 years ago, you can take your chances, but it's at the border patrol's discretion. If you have a 20 year old DUI, but no formal rehabilitation with the Canadian government, the border patrol officers can hassle you about it. And not let you in if they want to. Chances are they will let you in, but just so much easier to do rehabilitation. Again - DUI is THE worst thing that can be on your record when you're trying to get into Canada. It's just their thing. They're super strict about it.

candycane_girl

Nov 8 2009, 07:34 PM

Try Limewire!

AP, that's the whole problem though! When coming from Windsor, you have to drive through Detroit before you can get anywhere else. Plus, there is an area called Mexicantown that I just can't resist. On Monday nights they have everything at par so the place is packed with Canadians downing margaritas and eating queso flameado.

AbleDanger

Nov 9 2009, 12:30 AM

Rehabilitation sounds like a great option, in Canada we have pardons. As for my experiences crossing the border, I love going into the US. The border guards are pleasant, friendly, never hassle me and always wave me on through. Coming home however, the Canadians aren't nearly as friendly, they spend way more time trying to figure out what I've got with me, and it takes so much longer which is always a pain when you're just glad to be home. I wonder if it has something to do with all our anti-Americanism and if the Canadian border guards have been trained to be wary of all the crazy Americans??? That being said, Canada did get in a whack of sh*t from the US because some of the 9/11 guys came through Canada, which never really made sense to me because it wasn't our border guards giving them entry to the US.

auralpoison

Nov 9 2009, 01:53 AM

QUOTE(AbleDanger @ Nov 9 2009, 01:30 AM)

That being said, Canada did get in a whack of sh*t from the US because some of the 9/11 guys came through Canada, which never really made sense to me because it wasn't our border guards giving them entry to the US.

This was a myth that the US media created & ran with & your more right wing conspiracy nuts latched onto. Within days of the attacks a couple of newspapers back east (*cough* Boston *cough*) claimed that two of the terrorists came in from Canada via some sleepy little hamlet in Maine with no difficulties. In little more than a week newspapers like the CSM were saying that Canada was a hotbed of anti-American terrorist cells. And it was pretty much bullshit, but once that enters the panicked hive-mind of a nation . . . it sticks. I had to listen to my right wing nutjob granny rail about Canada's weak borders, yadda yadda yadda.

rogue

Nov 9 2009, 06:38 AM

Cob: My job. I've said it a billion times but holy sweet fuck, I can't stand it sometimes. Today especially - Mondays and I don't mesh well.

Anti-cob: The Lounge. I learn so much from this place, even about my own country! I've never been to the U.S. so I had no idea about the goings-on at the border.

koffeewitch

Nov 10 2009, 12:15 PM

QUOTE(candycane_girl @ Nov 8 2009, 08:06 PM)

As someone who now lives in Toronto I find that all the more hilarious! Okay, yeah there's a lot of crime here but I still feel that it doesn't compare to the States. Every time I go to Detroit it's like "Lock the doors! Hide your purse! Try to look like you don't have any money and nothing worth stealing at all!" Seriously, I won't even take my iPod across the border. Gee, now who looks like the crazy paranoid one? "

Cob: Having been born in the U.S. of A. and not Canada. Our countries are both relatively young and have the same basic cultural elements, but that is where the similarities end. In the U.S. we have no universal health coverage, entire populations of people who cannot read beyond a 3rd grade level, constant murders, CONSTANT WARS and "military actions" which is a lame euphemism for more FUCKING WARS against poverty stricken nations who are no threat to us. We are a nation that causes most of the world's pollution and climate change problems yet we refuse to step in and join other nations in creating a solution. We have a medicaid program that will cover Viagra, but not birth control and definitely not abortion. Education is becoming increasingly unaffordable yet having an educated public would help solve so many of our problems.

I better stop here; I could rant on top of this here soap box for days and days.

candycane_girl

Nov 11 2009, 10:50 PM

koffee, it's not all sunshine and lollipops over here. We have troops in Afghanistan who are being killed everyday and for what? While we have lower tuition fees than in the states, we also have really low rates of student funding. Ontario has the second worst student funding in North America (first is Alabama). While abortion is legal, the province of PEI doesn't even have a single abortion provider which means that you have to travel all the way to another province just to get one. Also, a lot of our provinces only have abortion providers in their capital which means that if you live in a rural area then you need a car or someone willing to drive you a long way.

As a Torontonian I feel pretty lucky. I have access to a lot of services that others don't. And I'm happy to at least live in a country that has legal abortion and legal gay marriage but it's constantly under attack. However, I really could never see myself living in the U.S. It just doesn't seem as free.

koffeewitch

Nov 12 2009, 07:35 AM

Oh, I know Canada has problems too (we're not in Sweden, after all). But check this out. In the last month in the apartment building right next to mine we have had two homicides. The first involved a mother of three children being shot in the face at close range and the other was just a dead bloody body found in the hallway (I guess no suspects, yet). And this is Columbus, fucking Ohio. No exactly on the top ten violent cities list. I have seen countless times, teenage kids pulling out handguns like they were cell phones or something. Oddly enough, I don't feel that unsafe walking around my heighborhood (guess I've grown used to it) but what does this say about us as a nation.By the way, same problem with abortion...In Ohio you can get an abortion in only about 8 of our 88 counties. I AM however very surprised that there are not more abortion providers in Canada. Your country is one big-ass place and I can see where that could be one hell of a drive for people!

P.s. THe criticism of "us as a nation" is not meant to be a criticsm of the 14 year old kids so much as the powers in Washington and corporations that run Washington and don't give a fuck about anything other than their own pocketbooks. Crime= poverty + powerlessness

candycane_girl

Nov 12 2009, 09:09 AM

Yeah, I guess it's all relative. Every country has its problems and like I said, I'd much rather live here than in the States. When it comes to crime, sometimes I think it's a matter of how much is reported. My grandparents (who ironically lived in Toronto for most of their lives, my grandmother was born and raised here) suddenly think that the city has become totally unsafe and full of crime. But from what I've heard, there is actually more crime per capita in my hometown than here.

culturehandy

Nov 12 2009, 11:25 AM

Well, thing is, there's a lot of space, but a lot of Canadians live in the Southern portion of the country (and we have a lot of North here).

The city I live in is the murder capital of Canada. That really makes it seem like people are getting shot at, at random when really it's people who know each other and the murder comes after an all night drinking party. and the people involved are often from minority groups.

Sigh.

coffeebean

Nov 12 2009, 01:26 PM

Good points CH and ccgirl...I think that is where most of the fear mongering in the media comes from. The media makes is seem like all of these random people are just getting shot at, robbed, beat down etc. when in fact these acts are really not all that random. I think that random acts of crime are a lot less common than people think.

Additionally, coming from a small town - it is interesting that brawls/very violent fights happen quite frequently due to alcohol and drug use/abuse, not to mention all of the drivers who get behind the wheel while under the influence, and no one says boo....because 'the big citites' are really the problem. Yeah right! I guess that's my COB!

candycane_girl

Nov 12 2009, 03:21 PM

Yeah, I was going to mention that part about Canada. It's a huge country but the majority of Canadians live within 200 miles of the border.

cob: shit disturbers. Last night my students' union had their semi-annual general meeting and there was one guy who just would not shut up. It was constant questions, "point of information" on this or that, and even going so far as to make us have a vote on whether or not we should re-vote on a certain issue. According to someone I was with, this guy (and all the other people with him) were trying to make the meeting drag on so that people would leave and there would be less voters.

I was also very peeved at the blatant lies told by people of the opposition in an attempt to get people to vote against our motion.

culturehandy

Nov 13 2009, 08:14 AM

you know what pisses me off??

TROLLS who pretend to be actually contributing something to a thread when they have escorts in their signature.

I want to squish them.

coffeebean

Nov 13 2009, 08:55 AM

Yes CH! Agreed.

COB: Relational aggression in women who are over 30 years old. WTF? It is so immature that this woman I know makes herself feel better and more well liked by isolating me from the rest of our mutual friends. I am well aware that it is not necessary for everyone to like each other and am fine with that but why make it worse than it has to be/more personal than it has to be?

girltrouble

Nov 13 2009, 01:22 PM

particularly escort agencies that have a long history of sending us trolls.

culturehandy

Nov 13 2009, 03:55 PM

but yay the post is gone!!!

woohoo!

rogue

Nov 14 2009, 08:20 PM

Cob: My asthma inhaler. It helps me breathe, yes, but I hate the shakes that come with it! Bah.

Anti-cob: Spending time with my mom and bestie tonight, playing cards and board games and watching My Life In Ruins and Cake Boss. Super fun!

rogue

Nov 16 2009, 10:46 AM

Cob: I drank waaaay too much (stupid yet delicious) coffee today and now I can't stop peeing! Sorry if this is TMI but grrrr!!!!

doodlebug

Nov 16 2009, 06:24 PM

cob: SOLO MOBILE/BELL CANADA = WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE ON THE PLANET!

STAY AWAY FROM SOLO MOBILE/BELL CANADA!

It's like a Kafka-esque nightmare. And now I don't have time for the details.

candycane_girl

Nov 16 2009, 09:12 PM

cob: the fucking naked chicks in the ads up there! ^^^ Seriously, between them and Dita...what is this, sex month for advertising? C'mon Bust, there's gotta be something better to take up my screen space.

girltrouble

Nov 16 2009, 09:17 PM

cob: coal and natural gas company's ads trying to convince me solar and wind aren't as good as their products. fuck you, and i hope you burn in hell.

Aithinne

Nov 16 2009, 09:21 PM

Cob: People who have no concept of personal space. Just because you crowd me, doesn't make the line move any faster, folks.

auralpoison

Nov 16 2009, 09:35 PM

QUOTE(candycane_girl @ Nov 16 2009, 09:12 PM)

cob: the fucking naked chicks in the ads up there! ^^^ Seriously, between them and Dita...what is this, sex month for advertising? C'mon Bust, there's gotta be something better to take up my screen space.

I swear, that Dita ad is giving me a complex.

Aithinne

Nov 16 2009, 10:16 PM

At least the dollhouse one up top has a comfy looking couch on it.

girl_logic

Nov 17 2009, 09:47 AM

I always use work-safe mode here, less aggravating.

treehugger

Nov 18 2009, 04:24 AM

I use worksafe mode too-the window is much larger and the ad is TINY.

girltrouble

Nov 18 2009, 07:41 AM

cob: i hate that stupid little debbie, and she knows why. that is all.

sevenseconds

Nov 24 2009, 02:57 AM

Conscious guy*** making fun of an older woman who isn't present for getting a face-lift. Especially to impress me. Like, "She could be getting the best granny roles in Hollywood now. Ouch, how unenlightened of her. "It's like a white person using the N-word, I guess? A chick doing it, I can swallow. A dude - fuck off.

Thank my lucky star for good genes and a biological clock that is blinking 12:00, but dude. You're not in her shoes, you don't know what she has to lose, what she has to fight for. So don't say that. She's doing the best she knows how. We all are.

I fucking hate when people call other people out for having any kind of cosmetic procedure done.

1) maybe it just fucking makes them feel better about themselves. Just like - yoga makes you feel better about yourself. Or a new haircut. How come there is so much fucking stigma attached to cosmetic procedures? (and I'm not just talking surgery) Yeah, there are people who do it for all the wrong reasons, but there are also people who do excessive exercise, for example, for the same wrong reason. but there truly are people who it just makes them feel good about themselves like a yoga class or a new haircut. I say, no harm no foul if you're otherwise sane and healthy.

2) perhaps they had to have it done for a medical reason. At some point, I have to have what is usually considered a cosmetic procedure done on me, but it's for a medical reason - as in, covered by insurance, the whole shebang. I'm sure there will be people who will be judgemental of me or think poorly of me, but it will never even occur to them that perhaps I medically HAD to have it done for my wellbeing.

really, I think that the age of that judgemental crap is over. people like that need to get a life and get over themselves.

culturehandy

Nov 25 2009, 09:24 AM

Cob: People who overdose on horribly bad smelling perfume. There is someone who sits near me who has bathed in something rancid. Ugh. I knew I hated flowery perfume for a reason.

nickclick

Nov 25 2009, 10:56 AM

QUOTE(zoya @ Nov 24 2009, 12:15 PM)

I fucking hate when people call other people out for having any kind of cosmetic procedure done.

someone best not criticize my breast reduction surgery! if they do, i'll tie a string between two sacks of potatoes and hang it around their necks for 20 years straight. yeah.

In future, I'll most likely need to get an eye lid lift or snip or whatever the hell it is. Eyelids will sag as we age, but the way mine are and how the fold is, it will sag over my eyes, then I won't be able to see. People can fuck off!

pollystyrene

Nov 25 2009, 11:24 AM

QUOTE(culturehandy @ Nov 25 2009, 11:10 AM)

In future, I'll most likely need to get an eye lid lift or snip or whatever the hell it is. Eyelids will sag as we age, but the way mine are and how the fold is, it will sag over my eyes, then I won't be able to see. People can fuck off!

My left eyelid has been noticeably "off" since my eye surgery almost 2 years ago...my eye's just not as open as it used to be and I don't notice it when I look in the mirror, but in pictures, I notice it a lot. I'm becoming less and less opposed to having some tweaks done at some point.

culturehandy

Nov 25 2009, 03:03 PM

People who chew in your ear on the telephone. Seriously, if you're going to call me, don't fucking eat.

The only reason I said "a chick doing it - I can swallow" btw, is because there is a certain kind of judgment button that gets triggered by stuff in others that we find hard to forgive/ resolve in ourselves. So when a chick sounds like she's calling another woman for getting a procedure, or for trying too hard, looking slutty, being desperate or clingy, or for her biological clock ticking like a suicide bomber's vest, *insert any judgment we can pass on a woman* -- sometimes, only sometimes, it's because she's afraid she might be, in unguarded moments, making a similar impression, or that she might fall into the behavior if she isn't watchful. Or, she has had the urge to do it but has suppressed it (and begrudges others who indulged that urge: *hangs head meekly* Ehem, yeah, she.). So scorn is a way of being afraid we might end up doing the same thing. Hence homophobia.

And when a chick is railing on Dolly, I am tempted to be like, Sh, don't worry, babe, technology's come a long way. Ours will never end up looking like that. But I don't, cuz I'm so she-wolf, my true tenderness often comes across as being patronizing;/

sevenseconds

Nov 25 2009, 06:41 PM

Ooops, I dug my own grave with this post didn't I.Now I can't issue a Corn Cob fatwa without hearing all ya ladyes go neener neener.

Emphasis on sometimes, as in very rarely sometimes? There are some really really annoying things out there that have nothing to do with us.

*Pours boiling water over freshly shot crow and starts plucking*

zoya

Nov 25 2009, 07:06 PM

seven - my post wasn't directed at you, just so you know

your post about what that guy said just totally triggered my feelings about the fact that I wish people would stop making cosmetic procedures such a stigma. thats' all!

sevenseconds

Nov 25 2009, 07:46 PM

I didn't think that, zoya : )

I was just explaining why I let girls off the hook in my first post.

Then I was explaining my explaining. The usual.

rogue

Nov 26 2009, 07:05 AM

QUOTE(culturehandy @ Nov 25 2009, 04:03 PM)

People who chew in your ear on the telephone. Seriously, if you're going to call me, don't fucking eat.

Hell yes, CH. I also hate when people call me and then talk to people around them instead of me. HI, DON'T DO THAT!

Big Fat Cob of the Day: When I'm trying to read and people won't stop talking to me. I love my mother but she did this all the way to work this morning (we carpool together). It's so annoying! I'm glad my boss was able to be hilarious since he walked in the door because it's lightened my mood considerably.

pants

Nov 30 2009, 11:07 AM

So today I had to send my team an email about phone usage while at work. You know, don't do so much of it blah blah

So one of them writes me back and says, "Hi <Pants> I may be on the phone a bit this week because on Friday my grandad went into the hospital with ammonia and it's pretty serious."

I reassured her that I understand that there are special circumstances and not to worry about it and then pointed out that the word she wants is pneumonia, as ammonia is a chemical.

If anybody ever again tried to convince me of the superiority of the UK educational system I am going to show them this email.

And then I will show them the email from R whose wisdom teeth were growing in and this made her jaw very saw.

And then I will tell them about L who once asked, "What's a spouse? That's like your brother or sister right?"

And then I will cry out of fear for the future of the planet.

sevenseconds

Nov 30 2009, 11:53 AM

Oh Pants. I laughed so loud my cat came and looked me over with real concern(for the future of the planet.)

nickclick

Nov 30 2009, 11:59 AM

QUOTE(pants @ Nov 30 2009, 11:07 AM)

So one of them writes me back and says, "Hi <Pants> I may be on the phone a bit this week because on Friday my grandad went into the hospital with ammonia and it's pretty serious."

maybe her Grandpa is a janitor at the hospital? and has very strong feelings about the cleanliness of public spaces? LOL

doodlebug

Nov 30 2009, 02:12 PM

cob: this happened to me at the dollar store last week.

I am browsing notebooks and I cough into my hand. Just a simple smoker's cough. (Which has driven me to set my quit date.)

A grey-haired lady at the other end of aisle says, loudly and imperiously, "I WISH you would cover your mouth when you cough. I'm standing here ten feet away."

I stopped for a moment, stared at her, and replied, "I DID cover my mouth."

"You didn't do it very well....blah, blah, blah...." I can't remember exactly what she said, because it was a blather of television-based, fear-mongering crap.

I finally say, "I don't think it's any of your business, actually."

Even more snottily, more imperiously (if possible), she replies, "It IS my business when I'm going into the hospital in three days and I'm afraid of getting sick!"

Finally I turn to walk away, and reply over my shoulder, "Well, everybody's afraid of something."

She has the nerve to shout after me, "I wish YOU were a little more afraid!"

I mean, honest to fuck! For starters, if you're going into the hospital and you are afraid of getting sick, why the fuck are you in the dollar store? And secondly, stop wishing your fucking fear vibe on me! Asshole!

culturehandy

Nov 30 2009, 02:34 PM

If you were a real asshole, you could have gone right next to her and couhged, and hacked away.

nickclick

Nov 30 2009, 03:42 PM

or in mock apology, shook her hand.

girltrouble

Nov 30 2009, 05:52 PM

or, sneezed in her face.

koffeewitch

Dec 1 2009, 02:48 PM

You should recommend next time she comes out in public she wear a gas mask.

What is wrong with people? I always have these bizarro encounters with weirdos, too.

nickclick

Dec 2 2009, 09:04 AM

especially at the dollar store. i was at Dollar Tree yesterday (best dollar store, by far), which is next to Kohl's, and apparently Tues is Senior Day at Kohl's. bunch of pushy oldies trying to buy Xmas wrapping paper before the bus left.

doodlebug

Dec 8 2009, 12:55 PM

cob: my frickin' lazy-ass co-worker keeps "disappearing" from her desk on some excuse or another (to see the Christmas basket auction downstairs, to chat with yet another person in the building about her new fucking goddamned living room windows, to toast yet another bagel, to sneak an extra cigarette because she insists on the full coffee break each time instead of breaking up her breaks and just smoking when she needs to, like I've done - with full support from the boss). And that leaves ME stuck with the phones, plus a huge chunk of the work that keeps getting more and more behind because she can't be bothered to pick up the slack, and I feel like I'm the only one in the whole office who does that piece of work anymore.

cob: also, in that same vein, I'm STILL pissed that she shows up consistently late for morning meetings, and gets away with it, when she has no excuse for it - no kids, no partner, no elderly parents to caregive, nothing except her own lazy-ass self. Last time, the day before the meeting, she kept offering me a ride in the morning, and I refused, because I KNEW I'd be late if I accepted. But I lied about my reason for refusing. Next time I'm telling the truth. Honestly, she showed up half an hour late to a fascinating (and HIGHLY job-relevant) presentation on the Freedom of Information Act, with her hair uncombed, her face unwashed, her eyes still full of sleep grit. It was disrespectful to the presenter, disrespectful to our boss, and disrespectful to the entire team, most of whom are MOMS who have entire families to get ready and out the door before they can get here for an early morning meeting.

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